Plus500 Review

Plus500 Review

Instrument Variety

Leverage: (200:1)

Scalping: Forbidden

EURUSD Spread: 2pips

Regulation: CySEC

User Feedback: Good

$20 No Deposit Bonus

Platform

3.9

Bottom Line

There are disadvantages like banned scalping, and limited platform support (only the Plus500 Platform can be used). There are advantages like a no-deposit bonus, strong reputation, fair margins, and UK HQ. Overall it’s a very solid choice for those not particularly interested in scalping, or looking for brokers that work with a multitude of platforms.

Platforms: Plus500 Web and Windows Trader, as well as mobile platforms.

Accounts available: in US Dollars only.

Regulation: Authorized and Regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority. Also regulated in Australia by ASIC.

Social Trading: N/A, Plus500 has no social trading support.

Support Options: Email.

Plus 500 Video Review

Platform(s)

Plus500 Windows Trader

Plus500, offers both a online and offline version of their propriety trading software the Plus500 trader. The Plus500 software is perfectly functional allowing a trader to open and close positions, it is somewhat lacking. While its perfectly possible to undertake technical analysis and various forms of charting on the platform, I have always found the charts featured on the platform particularly difficult to read. In my personal opinion the software is not anywhere near as advanced or sophisticated as MetaTrader 4 & 5, but in part makes up for this by being very easy to use. They also offer both Android and Iphone/Ipad mobile trading platforms which are in fact pretty good for mobile trading platforms meaning that their customers shouldn’t have trouble trading on the move. It should be noted that at the present time there is no support for any type of social trading at Plus500.

Trading Conditions

Leverage: Varies instrument to instrument. Forex up to 1:200, Commodities up to 1:100, ETF’s up to 1:30 and, Shares up to 1:20

Scalping: Not Allowed.

Hedging: No remarks banning it in user agreement.

Trailing Stops: No

Spreads: Fixed, 2pips on the EUR/USD. More on other major Forex pairings.

Minimum Pip Distance stop/limit orders: 15pips.

The trading conditions at Plus500 don’t appear to be that favorable to the trader, for instance the banning of scalping is something which may put people off. What makes matters worse is that no precise definition of scalping is given in the Plus500 user agreement, which makes it difficult to determine what is considered scalping. So this may put off short term or arbitrage traders from depositing with Plus500. The leverage on offer is rather limited in comparison to some other brokerages who offer far in excess of the leverage offered by Plus50o. However, not all traders desire the high leverage offered by some brokerages as high leverage increases both potential risk and rewards. Again the spreads aren’t the most competitive out there though it should be remarked that they are fixed meaning you can enter into the market during new releases without having to pay extortionate spreads.

No Deposit Bonus

There’s a £20 no deposit bonus for anyone signing up to Plus500. As with all no-deposit bonuses, it’s extremely hard to withdraw that bonus. You would have to trade huge volumes in order to eventually become eligible for withdrawl. On the other hand, this is one of brokers to offer such no-deposit offers, and most certainly the most well-known out of the bunch. If you’re mind is fixated on testing the platform with such a bonus, there is not other place for you to look besides Plus500.

Instruments

Number of Currency Pairs: 51 (23 exotic) through Contracts For Difference

Other instruments: Stock CFD’s, ETF’s, Commodities, Indices and Bitcoin, through Contracts For Difference.

Plus500 offers a pretty comprehensive range of currency pairings including a number of quite exotic currency pairings. In addition to these Forex pairings, Plus500 offers an absolutely huge range of CFD’s for its customers to trade. This is what I see as the main strength of their offering. This huge range of instruments includes exotic global stocks, a decent and growing list of ETF’s as well as a decent selection of major commodities. Traders are certainly spoiled for choice when deciding what to trade, of course spreads on the more exotic instruments tend to be wider. Having an account at Plus500 allows you have to a huge range of different financial markets available at your fingertips and certainly opens up some interesting possibilities. They also seem to be dedicated to continually adding more instruments to their platform and the range of instruments available has swelled considerably since they launched in 2009.

Customer Support

Contact Methods: Email and Fax.

Telephone Numbers: None listed on the Plus500 site.

Support Languages: Website is available in a number of different languages, no indication regarding customer service for non-English speakers.

Customer support being available only via Email and Fax, is simply not good enough in this modern day and age. I’m sure that many people would feel more comfortable with depositing money with the brokerage if they were willing to offer a wider range of ways to contact them. To be fair to Plus500 they do always get back to their customers email’s and often resolving problems to the customers satisfaction. However, a wider range of contact methods would be something that many customers would surely appreciate.

Regulation

Regulated: Authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and by ASIC in Australia.

MiFID Regulated: Yes.

Can accept US Traders: No.

Regulatory Record: On October the 17th Plus500 were fined £205,000 in regards to failing to conform to certain reporting standards. Currently has a clean ASIC regulatory record.

Plus500 were fined in late 2012 for failing to report certain reportable transactions to the UK regulator in a timely and accurate manner. Basically every time a real money CFD position is opened, a brokerage is required to report this to the regulatory body in a timely and accurately factor. The fine related to breaches which occurred between the 29th of June 2010 and the 5th of November 2011, during this period Plus500 failed to report 189,000 transactions at all and failed to report a total of 1,332,000 transactions accurately. Plus500, has since brought itself fully into line with UK regulation and has not received any further fines. This has certainly no been good for the companies reputation but the said regulatory breaches were not believed to have affected any customers trading experience. In Australia where Plus500 is regulated by ASIC the company currently has a clean regulatory record.

Our Video Review

Overall

Plus500, may be a good option for people who want to trade certain exotic instruments. There’s good user feedback and a very reliable, public traded, company. However, many traders may put off by the lack of supported platforms, and the fact that scalping is forbidden on the Plus500 platform. Despite these factors the brokerage may still be a good option for particular traders, and in particular from the UK.

What did you think of our Plus500 review? If you have experience with Plus500 or have questions please feel free to write in the comments below.

Plus500 Platform Review

Many CFD brokerages offer a variety of third party platforms to prospective clients, with platforms like MetaTraderand cTraderbeing particularly popular. Recent months have seen a number of big names add the MetaTrader platform to their offering, in order to attract customers who are keen to use the hugely popular platform. Plus500 has taken a different approach, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, the CFD brokerage only offers their own proprietary platform to prospective customers. Those who wish to trade with Plus500 have no other option than to use the Plus500 trader platform. Today, we are going to take a look at the Plus500 platform and see how it compares with other major trading platforms. Plus500, is a CFD Service. Contracts-For-Difference, are a financial derivative that allow individuals to speculate on financial instruments without owning the underlying asset. When depositing with Plus500, it is important to be aware that that your capital is at risk.

Design and Function

The platform has a sleek and crisp design which is easy on the eyes. While the design of the platform is hardly breathtaking, it is clean and functional which is all that is really needed. Navigating through the huge range of trading instruments isn’t particularly difficult, with a left sidebar displaying the different asset types which are further broken down into sub-sections. If you are looking for a particular asset, it is possible to use the search bar to direct yourself to the instrument in question. The search function is much improved on earlier versions, and is quicker than navigating through various sections and sub-sections to find the instrument you are looking for.

The Plus500 Instrument Details Screen

Once you have found the instrument you are looking for clicking the Details button will bring up additional details about the instrument. This screen lets you see the max leverage available, overnight premiums and other important information about the particular instrument.

It is possible to open the Buy/Sell window form either the main platform window or the details screen. It is pretty simple to Buy/Sell a particular instrument or asset, with it being possible to setup stop-losses and take profits before you open a position. In addition to Stop-losses and Take profits, traders can also set up trailing stops and pending orders. Once opened positions can be managed in the Open positions tab with it being easy to close or modify positions. Placing trades on the Plus500 platform is simple enough and traders should be able to get the hang of it, with a little practice.

Charting and Indicators

The Plus500 platform isn’t particularly impressive when it comes to charting. Charts are available for all the assets featured on the platform, with traders being able to opt for charts to be displayed in line or candlestick format. A drop down menu makes it possible to change the time frame displayed, with the platform supporting a decent range of timeframes. It is also possible to zoom in and out on the charts, using the zoom buttons. My main concern regarding charting on the platform is that the charts are rather grating on the eyes and are not particularly easy to read even when maximised. The charting area is also rather small when you compare the Plus500 platform with some of its competitors.

Adding indicators to various instruments on the platform is simple. The setup indicators tab allows users to setup a decent range of technical indicators, by simply moving the indicator they want to use over into the active indicators column. Users can adjust the calculation period and set the method of calculation when possible. Setting up indicators and removing indicators is easy and less experienced traders should have little trouble setting up technical indicators. But again the rather garish nature of the charts makes reading indicators tougher than it should be. I would definitely have to say that I prefer other platforms when it comes to charting. One solution might be to use a separate charting program and simply place trades on the Plus500 platform.

Features

The platform is rather light when it comes to unique selling points. While it is possible to do all the standard account management stuff, there is little if anything that sets the trading platform apart from its competitors. For instance there is no support for those wanting to create or implement automatic trading strategies.

Conclusion

The Plus500 platform is functional and allows traders to trade a wide range of assets. The platform is lacking when it comes charting and unique features. The biggest selling point of the Plus500 brand is the ability to trade a wide range of instruments all in one place, with many traders being less concerned with the quality of the platform. Plus500 does risk being left behind with many other CFD brokerages offering MetaTrader and other popular platforms to their clients. Overall, the Plus500 platform is unremarkable but functional and will appeal to those who want to manually trade a range of different markets using a single account and platform.

Plus500 is a market maker as far as I am aware. While many market makers do allow for scalping, there are a few exceptions. I believe that Plus500 only engages in limited hedging and has a rather slow price feed, which only updates around every second. This could allow traders to arbitrage the brokerage. I’m not a 100% sure if this is the case, but from what I have read it seems likely.

they ar e the worst broker and i can explain u they only allowed scalping when u r loosing the money but when u will start go gain they will send u email regarding scalping . please dont open an account with them as i loose 2500 euros without any proved reson.

Sorry to hear about your experiences with Plus500! They do state in their user agreement that they don’t allow scalping. While its good if a broker makes it clear that they don’t allow for certain trading styles, its always worth checking whether a brokerage will allow you to trade how you want. I hope that you find a brokerage which suits your needs better.

I don’t know why so many people say bad things about Plus500. I deposited and withdrew fine, I like the huge selection of different instruments available on the platform. Just avoiding scalping seems to be the key, which I made sure I did.

Unfortunate that you lost £400 with Plus500, many people have complained about the fact they don’t allow scalping. The trading conditions at the brokerage are not the best around and it is probably why there are so many complaints regarding the brokerage.

Plus500 offers CFD’s which stands for Contracts For Difference. All instruments offered by the brokerage are offered as Contracts For Difference, that is what is meant by CFD’s in this article. You must have a different understanding of the acronym.